Trees Gallery - Perth

Rodney gardens, Perth

An urban garden in the Kinnoull area of Perth, on the eastern banks of the River Tay. Named after Admiral George Rodney of the Royal Navy, the gardens are situated on the former site of a mill. It is joined by an underpass to Norie-Miller Park on the west side of Queen's Bridge, and Bellwood Park to the east. There are a number of interesting and unusual trees, though only a couple have identification plaques on them, hence there is a degree of guesswork in the descriptions below.

---

Acer davidii acer - maple; davidii after Armand David (Père David, 1826 - 1900), who documented the tree on his travels through China.

Snake bark maple

A.k.a. Père David's maple, a small deciduous tree native to China, with arching branches, growing 10–15 m tall with a trunk up to 40 cm in diameter, though often with multiple trunks. The small yellow flowers have five sepals and petals about 4 mm long, produced on arching 7–12 cm racemes in late spring, with male and female flowers on different racemes. The tree was planted by The Compassionate Friends a support group for bereaved parents to commemorate their 50th year.

---

Acer palmatum acer - from the Latin for maple; palmatum, palm-like, referring to the 5 lobed hand (or palm) shaped leaves

Japanese maple

a deciduous tree or shrub known for its foliage and vibrant autumn colors. There are numerous cultivars of Japanese maples, varying in leaf color, shape, and growth habit, and without a label or further evidence, I am not sure what this one could be - possibly osakazuki, given the pointed lobes and almost 180 degree red samaras.

---

Acer palmatum acer - from the Latin for maple; palmatum, palm-like, referring to the 5 lobed hand shaped leaves atropurpureum from Latin, meaning very dark purple.

Japanese maple

A small tree of bushy habit, with bronze-crimson leaves divided into 5-7 lobes, and becoming brilliant red in autumn. Inconspicuous red-purple flowers in spring may be followed by winged, purple fruits.

---

Araucaria araucana araucaria - after a region of Chile; araucana - the native tribe who used the tree's seeds for food.

Monkey puzzle

A.k.a. monkey tail tree, pewen, pehuen pine or piñonero, an evergreen tree growing to 30–40 m, native to C and S Chile and W Argentina. It is on the IUCN list as endangered in its native region due to logging, forest fires, and grazing. It is usually dioecious male and female cones on separate trees . The male (pollen) cones are oblong and cucumber-shaped. It is wind pollinated. The bark can be up to 15 cm thick, possibly an adaptation to resist wildfires.

---

Betula pendula betula - birch, possibly from betu, meaning tar or bitumen, which can be extracted from the tree, pendula - hanging down (L.); Youngii - after English nurseryman Maurice Young who found a chance seedling in 1874 Youngii

Young's weeping birch

I am making a guess that this is b. pendula Youngii, a small deciduous tree forming a dome-shaped crown often wider than high, of arching branches weeping to the ground, with ovate leaves turning yellow in autumn.

---

Cedrus deodara cedrus - from Greek kedros, cedar; deodara - from Sanskrit devadāru, a compound of deva (god) and dāru (wood or tree).

Deodar cedar

A large evergreen coniferous tree reaching 40–50 m, with a trunk up to 3 m in diameter. It has a conic crown with level branches and drooping branchlets. The female cones are barrel-shaped, and disintegrate when mature (in 12 months) to release the winged seeds. The male cones are 4–6 cm long, and shed their pollen in autumn.

---

Corylus corylus - from Greek korylos 'helmet', referring to the nut husk's shape; avellana - from the Italian city Avella, where hazelnuts were cultivated; contorta - twisted avellana contorta

Corkscrew hazel

A large deciduous shrub growing to about 6m tall, with strongly twisted branches bearing broadly heart-shaped, slightly twisted and contorted, mid-green toothed leaves, turning yellow in autumn, and pendent yellow male catkins in late winter and early spring followed by brownish fruits (hazelnuts) in late summer.

---

Fraxinus angustifolia Raywood.fraxinus - Latin for ash tree; angustifolia - narrow leaved; Raywood a nursery in Australia where the tree was cultivated

Claret ash

A.k.a. fraxinum Flame, a seedling variant of Caucasian ash, a vigorous medium sized tree growing to 10 m. It has inconspicuous flowers, and there are no fruits.

Ilex aquifolium ilex : - holm oak; aquifolium - acus 'needle', folium, 'leaf'

Holly

One of very few native British hardwood evergreen trees. It can exceed 10 m in height, but is more often 2–3 m. It can live 500 years, but usually does not reach 100. The flowers are white, four-lobed, and pollinated by bees. Holly is dioecious there are male plants and female plants , with fruits only appearing on female plants, which require male plants nearby to fertilise them. The fruit is a bright red (or yellow) drupe stone fruit .

---

Juglans nigra - from Latin Jove (Jupiter), and glans, 'acorn' or 'nut' nigra, black - referring to the dark bark

American Black walnut

At first I thought this large specimen was ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven), but the serrated margins on the leaves and other features suggest it is black walnut. I didn't check the leaves for the characteristic pungent, spicy odour. The bark is typically grey-black and deeply furrowed into thin ridges that gives the bark a diamond shaped pattern. It is monoecious, with male flowers in drooping catkins, and female flowers terminal, in clusters of two to five on the current year's growth. Walnuts ripen in brownish-green spherical husks. Black walnut is allelopathic releasing chemicals from its roots and other tissues that may harm other organisms and give the tree a competitive advantage .

---

Liriodendron tulipifera from Greek leirion - 'lily'; dendron - tree; tulipifera - tulip-bearing, referencing the flower's appearance

Tulip tree

A.k.a. whitewood, fiddletree, lynn-tree, hickory-poplar, and yellow-poplar. A large, deciduous tree native to North America, growing to 50 m. In late spring or early summer, mature tulip trees produce upright, cup-shaped flowers with yellow-green petals and orange markings inside. The tree's overall shape is pyramidal or broadly conical. Fast growing with a tall straight trunk, it is very commercially valuable timber.

---

Parrotia persica - named after Georg Friedrich Parrot (1767 - 1852), a German naturalist; and persica refers to the tree's native habitat, Iran (i.e. Persia).

Persian ironwood

A quick growing multi-stemmed tree growing to 30 m and 15 m wide. The bark is smooth, pinkish-brown flaking to leave a mosaic of cinnamon, pink, green, and pale yellow patches in a similar manner to plane trees. The flowers are somewhat similar to witch-hazel flowers but dark red; they are likewise produced in late winter on bare stems, but differ in having only four rounded sepals with no petals. The fruit is a two-part capsule containing two seeds, one in each half.

---

Prunus avium prunus - Latin for plum tree; avium -rs referring to the birds that eat the cherries, hence the birds' plum tree.

Wild cherry

A.k.a. gean or sweet cherry; a familiar presence in natural decidusous woodland, where its leggy form and above all its loose clusters of creamy-white summer flowers make it very recognisable. It is often encountered in hedgerows and has been widely planted in many urban areas. Its beautiful timber is highly prized by furniture makers and it is often used as a veneer. It is also much sought after by the makers of musical instruments.

---

Rosa rambling rector rosa - Latin name for rose; rambling -a vigorous climbing variety; rector - possibly the variety was found in a church garden.

Rose Rambling Rector

A large, vigorous, old garden rambler rose about 6m tall, with thorny stems bearing small, downy grey-green leaves. It has large sprays of fragrant, semi-double, white blooms about 4cm across, with deep yellow stamens, open from creamy buds, once-flowering in midsummer, followed by masses of small red hips

---

Thuja plicata (fastigiata) thuja - Greek thuja, aromatic tree; plicata -Latin for folded or pleated, referring to the leaves. fastigiata - column like growth

Western red cedar

This is probably a fastigiata version of thuja, a fast-growing evergreen tree of narrowly conical habit, with flat sprays of tiny, aromatic, scale-like leaves and small knobbly cones. The photos may actually be of two different trees - I would ned to go back to check!.

---